Latin America was the only region where wealth actually increased last year

[Mika]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/europe-becomes-worlds-wealthiest-region/article1288141/

Latin America was the only region where wealth actually increased last year. Its assets under management increased 3 per cent in 2008. The region's political and economic structures have “evolved considerably” in recent years, and the area had relatively little exposure to the U.S. real-estate market, the report said.

Article points out that countries that have large or growing social infrastructure are doing better that one that doesn't.

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[Peace Patriot]

1. This should be in GD and making headlines around the country.

WHAT did the Latin American countries do right that insulated them from the Bushwhack Financial 9/11?

I've read analyses of Venezuela at IncaKola News, and an analysis of Bolivia (by, was it Bloomberg? can't recall). And here are some of the keys: First of all, these countries have been doing everything possible to get out of the vulture clutches of the World Bank/IMF, by which previous rightwing governments had sold their countries to First World investors, who indebted the country on draconian terms, such as gutting all social programs, letting multinationals loot "the commons" (resources, land), introducing "free trade" sweatshops, and enforcing US dominated "free trade for the rich." Local development and infrastructure, education, medical care, worker protections--all abandoned. Exemplar: Argentina, which went belly-up under this thieving World Bank/IMF regime. Enter Venezuela, with a progressive government, notions of social justice and regional economic/political strength and cooperation. Venezuela--flush with oil profits--helped bail Argentina out of World Bank debt, buying up the debt on easy terms; Argentina began to recover; all indicators are now looking up, and Venezuela thus created a healthy trading partner for itself, Brazil and other countries.

Venezuela formalized this process in the Bank of the South, and has helped others, including Bolivia, for instance, to get out from under crushing, ruinous, usurious debt to First World banks and investors. The article I read about Bolivia cited the lack of exposure to First World banks and investors, so that when the latter collapsed, Bolivia was left standing on its feet. Venezuela, while funding big social justice measures in its own country, and helping others to recover from "neo-liberalism," also managed to put away $43 billion in international cash reserves for a "rainy day" (such as the Bush-induced collapse). They are sitting pretty now, and can set their own terms for use of these funds to help Venezuela through the First World financial drought, while maintaining most social spending. Emphasis on local/regional projects and jobs, bootstrapping of the poor, enhancements of equal rights and citizen participation, barter trading (for instance, beef for oil with Argentina, and doctors for oil with Cuba), and cooperation among all the new leftist democratic governments--with many instances of a "raise all boats" attitude by the countries with better-off economies (Brazil, Venezuela, Chile)--all contributed to this being Latin America's century, not our own (as Bush/Cheney & brethren so arrogantly presumed). We could have been part of it, but we wasted that chance on Clintonite "free trade" exploitation and Bushwhack mass murder for oil.

These far-thinking policies in Latin America were of course fought tooth and nail by the miserable, bloodsucking Bushwhacks--including an intense psyops/disinformation campaign against Hugo Chavez, whose government and people inspired much of this Latin American economic independence. And this of course is why they hate Chavez, this and they want Venezuela's oil (which could be the next US oil war--and our final ruination for sure).